Broombride
by Sannikex
Summary: Hermione has always hated to fly, what is it that changes her mind? A redhaired boyfriend and a red rose...Pure fluff Part in my The Weasley Love Stories, small vignettes. RHr. R&R!
1. Broombride

Broom(b)ride

By

Sannikex

A/N: Here is a Valentine's gift to everyone who is as romantic as I. Extreme fluff warning!

Disclaimer: I own nothing that belongs to others.

Hermione Granger angrily stomped up the stairs in the house she and her boyfriend Ronald Weasley shared. For the moment her boyfriend was in deep trouble. It was Valentine's Day and where was he?

"Bloody ignorant prat. Bye, darling I have to check the snow!´" Frozen water on the ground was more important to him than his girlfriend on the official love day. Wet, cold slush was taking his thoughts away from her. Irritated she collapsed on their bed and threw a fluffy pillow on the framed picture of them. Hermione buried her head in the covers and didn't notice she drifted off to sleep.

A sudden noise woke her up and her eyes automatically flew to the clock. She had slept for three hours. The reason behind the noise came through the door. A rather handsome man, in his own way, with blazing red hair, laughing eyes and a tall build stood in the doorframe. His clothes were wet and he had snow in his hair and his cheeks were flushed from the cold outside.

"Hi, Mione, have you slept?" She just glared at him. "I thought that we could go on a picnic." Her eyes lit up a bit, had he not forgotten totally? "I've fixed the food and our brooms are ready." She was almost seething, would they go on a picnic in this cold on _brooms_?

"No way." He knew that she hated to fly.

"You can sit in front of me. Please, Hermione? Pretty please with sugar on the top?" She had to give in to his begging face.

"Alright!" She went into the bathroom and applied some makeup. She didn't usually wear it but if this was some kind of date…Ron waited downstairs and when she finally came down he frowned. Hermione was dressed in a cloak and gloves, very pretty but not suitable for what he had planned. He shook his head and dragged his girlfriend back into the bedroom. When they left it this time Hermione was dressed with layers and layers of warm clothes and looked very much as a pile of car wheels.

"You'll need it." He responded to her silent glare. She snorted and went down the stairs. He hid a smile as he watched her with great difficulty made her way down.

Hermione had to admit that flying was not so bad when you could snuggle up to your boyfriend and feel the wind blow but still not get cold. If you just didn't look down you could manage fine. After almost an hour of flying Ron steered them down and jumped off first to help his girlfriend off. He earned a grateful smile for that and felt none of the cold. He brought the basket and went over to the place he had looked out before. Hermione just watched him as he started to pick up the meal. Ron reached out his hand for her and she took it. Only to be pulled down in the snow. She spluttered and tried to get up but Ron held her in a firm grip.

"Hermione, be still. Can't you feel how soft the snow is?" She stopped wriggling and checked. He was right, the snow had been pressed down and exactly fit her body.

"Nice, isn't it?" Ron grinned and lay down beside her.

"I could lie like this forever." Hermione breathed dreamily, mist rising from her mouth as she talked

"So you don't want the hot chocolate I brought? Or those delicious chocolates with creamy fudge and…" The red-haired man teased her.

"Oh, for that I'll maybe rise."

"Good for you that you don't need to then." He moved so she had her head resting on his lap and floated the sweets and the thermos closer. He picked a chocolate and let it glide on her lips, before leaning over her and slowly bend down, kissing it away. It was a long sweet drugging kiss and all Hermione's anger disappeared. With this way to eat chocolate it took a while before they finally collected their belongings and rose in the air again.

When they had flied for five minutes and Hermione had buried her face in Ron's chest he stopped, floating in mid-air.

"Hermione look down." He said softly. She shook her head. "Hermione look down." Something in his voice made her grasp his clothes harder and lift her head. Carefully she looked down. She almost fell off as she looked down on the ground. In the snow someone had written Hermione Granger, will you marry me?´

Her brown eyes met his blue and she managed to whisper, "Yes." He smiled warmly at her and from a pocket he picked out a red rose.

"You know I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you but I also did this to show you something. That it is not dangerous to look down on the ground, snow doesn't need to be just cold and wet and flying can be wonderful."

"I love you, Ron and I love to fly, to play in the snow, and with you, I love to look down on the ground from 150 feet up in the air. I will love to be your wife and I want you to know that this is the most beautiful thing anyone has ever done to me." She accepted the rose and they flew home.

A/N2: I think I will have this story to write on when I'm bored and write R/Hr moments…I hope you enjoyed and remember that there probably will be a continuation.


	2. Sunday Morning

Broom(b)ride

By

Sannikex

A/N: So another Hr/R moment! Not so much fluff as in the previous chapter but there will be more of that. I'm always open to suggestion since I don't have a storyboard. It's just going to be moments in our leading couple's life. So..Let's get on with it, on suggestion from Ced14.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything!

Hermione stretched and enjoyed the feeling the sunshine on her bare skin brought. She loved Sunday mornings. She liked to work and thought it was pleasant to have something to do all days, but Sundays were special, they were free. It was habit for her and Ron left from their Hogwarts days. He had always had Qudditch match or practise and she had had homework to do. But on Sundays they would take their time for each other only.

They still did. On Saturdays they would do the boring stuff you had to do on weekends like buy food, clean and do laundry. That left Sundays for them to enjoy each other's company. People had even stopped to invite them over for the last day of the week. By now they knew that the two of them wouldn't come.

Hit by a thought Hermione swung her legs down on the floor. She would bring her fiancée breakfast in bed. She turned to check that she hadn't woken him up a smile grazed her features. Ron was as usual spread over the whole bed, he was frowning in his sleep and mumbling something that had made Hermione laughing out loud in the middle of the nights as he babbled about totally disconnected things. Harry had told her that he used to do it at Hogwarts too.

His hair seemed ablaze in the brilliant rays that found their way between the drawn curtains. He might not be devilishly handsome like Malfoy or cute like Harry but he was hers. In all his tall, muscular, red-haired glory.

She rose and swiftly swept one of his shirts around herself, pushing up the sleeves that were long enough to cover her hands totally and went down the stairs to the kitchen.

She loved that room. She hated cooking and other house chores but the kitchen was so bright and warm that you just had to love it. The walls were painted in yellow with a border of sunflowers lining them and the cupboards and the table were polished, dark wood.

Conjuring some coffee and putting bread in the toaster she hummed to herself.

Putting it all on a tray she started to walk out as her eyes found the calendar on the wall. She furrowed her brow, it was a long time ago now…She hadn't had her menstruation for two months now. She had always been so punctual. Maybe it was stress; Hermione had read somewhere that stress disturbed the cycle. But the last months hadn't been that hard? Because it couldn't be…No, they always had protection. But…The tray slipped from Hermione's hands and hit the floor, coffee and shreds of china spreading over the kitchen floor. Absently she stepped away from the mess as Ron burst into the kitchen.

"Hermione! Are you hurt?..." He took in the sight before him. "What is it? Hermione? Hermione!" He called worriedly as his fiancée didn't respond. Staring off in space she said, "I've got to visit Ginny…" Staring after her Ron scratched his head. What the hell was going on?

As Hermione stepped out of the fireplace in the entrance hall of Malfoy Manor she became aware of that she was only wearing a shirt. But she hadn't time to go home and change she had to ask Ginny…A house elf spoke up from the level of her waist.

"Can Pattie help you, Ms. Granger?"

"Yes I would like to see Ginny, Pattie," Hermione answered the creature who against its will was paid.

"Follow me Miss, the Mistress is in the library with Master and the children." The pair of them reached the door to the library. The house elf moved to announce Hermione's arrival but Hermione thanked her and went in herself. She heard the family before she saw them. It sounded like Ginny was reading loud and a child's voice interrupted all the time. A calm male's voice answered and Ginny chided the child for disturbing. Hermione crept forward silently not wanting to disturb the idyll. Turning a bookcase she had to smile at the sight before her. Ginny was sitting in a sofa with Malfoy beside her, his arm casually slung around her shoulders. A blonde boy was squeezed in between them and a girl with red pigtails was curled up against her father.

Who would've thought that Malfoy would fall in love and be loved in return? But when you saw Ginny and Draco together there was no doubt that was the case. Ginny suddenly looked up and saw her friend.

"Hermione! What's the matter?" She asked taking in the woman's upset state.

"Could I talk to you alone?" Draco immediately rose lifting his daughter and led his son out of the room. Hermione had to be grateful for his swiftness. Ginny rose as well and Hermione noted that the first signs of her third pregnancy could be seen. The redhead made her friend sit down and eyed her carefully. What on earth could make the ever-composed Hermione Granger so out of balance?

"I think I'm pregnant," the brunette said bluntly. Ginny didn't ask if she was sure. A woman knew best herself.

"Have you done the spell?" She asked instead.

"Spell?" Hermione managed bleakly.

"To be really sure to a hundred percent?"

"What spell?" Hermione was one of the smartest witches in the wizard world but she obviously didn't know anything about pregnancy.

"Come here," Ginny said gently and led her friend to the Mistress chambers.

Ten minutes later she stated, "You are pregnant! Congratulations!" Before giving Hermione a hug.

"But we didn't plan…" Ginny laughed inwardly, a very typical reaction from Hermione. We didn't plan…

"Babies shouldn't be planned. They come out of love and should always be welcomed," Ginny said and then wrinkled her nose. Her husband was right, she could sound disgustingly mushy, or as he put it, Gryffindor.

Carefully Hermione put a hand on her stomach. There was a baby in there…Her baby, Ron's baby.

She hadn't ever been good with kids. It had happened that a stressed mother had asked her to hold their infants for a moment and it always dumbstruck her. How did you act? She wasn't natural with babies like Ginny who had become a perfect mother at the age of nineteen. Not being perfect had always scared Hermione. What if people thought she wasn't enough? So she had become the top student, the perfect co-worker the best in everything. Only together with Ron she could afford to make mistakes, he wouldn't like her less if she did wrong. But now there was a new little human being who leaned on that she was perfect. She was going to do all in her might to do this right!

Ginny saw the changing emotions in her friend's eyes but when they finally settled in a burning look of determination and, was it a shy light of happiness in there?

"I got to buy books!"

"Books?"  
"Yes, I know they have s section for it in Flourish and Blotts," Hermione said already making a list of all she had to know. The thought of such intense studying and reading made her giddy.

"Don't you think you should tell Ron first? And get dressed?"

"Ron! Of course!" Ginny sighed lightly and followed her friend to the floo fireplace. She had never herself had the chance to be giddy about her first pregnancy. No, the endless months before David's birth was now a haze of waiting and worrying about the baby's father. And not three days after the birth he had appeared at her doorstep.

"What are you thinking about?" Hermione asked taking a fistful of the floopowder.

"The day Draco came back…" Hermione nodded. It sure had been a day to remember. She and Ron had been at the Burrow where they lived until the found something own. It was hard to get somewhere to live after the war's end.

The sun had been shining and Ginny could be heard cooing with the new addition to the Weasley clan. The child without a father, David who had been born three days ago now had his nineteen-year-old mother and his grandmother was already up fussing over the him. His grandmother Molly Weasley had been shocked as she found out about the scandal. Her innocent baby girl was going to be a mother. Which meant that she had…well before her wedding and no father was to be found as Ginny refused to tell her family his name. But since the day she had accused her daughter for having a baby with someone so terrible that he had left her all alone and gotten the answer that there was no one in the world Ginny rather gave a child to was its father, Molly Weasley had awaited the child's arrival with happiness in her heart instead of shame.

Hermione and Ron had been sitting in the kitchen listening to the two women; mother and daughter play with the baby when there was a knock on the door. Ron had opened and fazed a man in robes that once must have been black but now were grey and brown. He had had brown hair and he was sickening thin. But Ron had recognized him anyway in spite of his worn state.

"What the hell are you doing here, Malfoy!" With rusty voice he had croaked, "Is Ginny here?"

"No," Ron had spat at the Death Eater and slammed the door shut. Ginny had came in with a very awake David in her arms.

"Who was it?" She asked curiously.

"How do you know Malfoy?" Ron had answered and Ginny had looked up from her child.

"Was he here?" Ron just stared grimly at her but she didn't seem to notice. She had almost thrown David to Hermione before dashing out through the door. They both followed her, confused by her behaviour. And dumbfounded they became witnesses to a tale the wizarding world still did not believe.

Malfoy had fallen it looked like and he was lying still on the lawn as Ginny threw herself down to the ground turning his limp body towards her. He had opened his eyes and she had kissed him. Hermione could still recall the gagging sound her fiancée had made. Shaking her head to clear her thought she threw the powder into the fire and watched them turn emerald green. Now it was time for her to tell her love about the same thing as Ginny had told hers that fateful day four years ago with the sun shining making her read hair glitter as it spilled around the couple. It was when she had realized that Malfoy was actually crying she could accept what she was seeing and slowly she had approached them as Ginny assisted Malfoy to sit, leaning on a tree trunk. She had watched as the redhead took her baby from her own arms and put him in the arms of Malfoy. Malfoy the Death Eater, Malfoy the cruel, Malfoy the repulsing. She had put the treasure she valued most in the world in the arms of that man. And he had held the child with such affection, his grey eyes disbelieving and shining.

Hermione had seen that look and she had been the first to accept Malfoy as Ginny's choice. She hastily caressed her friend's cheek, happy for her sake. Malfoy was the only one who could make Ginny whole. Then she said her destination clearly and stepped into the flames.

"Ron! Ron!" Hermione didn't even take her time to brush the soot from her face as she rushed through their house looking for her fiancée. She found him in the kitchen where he was putting away the dishes Hermione had broken the same morning. Reparo was a really useful spell. A blur of brown hair and very exposed legs threw itself on him.

"Hermione! What happened this morning? You just disappeared and I…" He was interrupted by his fiancée pressing her lips against his and wrapping her legs around his middle. If this was the feared mood swings his Auror colleagues complained about at work he was more than willing to take them. In desperate need of air they separated but Hermione still clung to his waist, which was totally fine with him. More nervous than she wanted to think about Hermione breathed the words that would change their lives.

"We're going to have a baby!" Ron almost dropped her. His blue eyes were perfectly round and he was staring at her like she had grown an extra head. Or that time when she had tried to explain a video to him…

"I'm going to be a father?" He said weakly.

"Yes if you want to…?" Hermione had always thought that people in films who tugged at their hair when they were frustrated were ridiculous but now she was nervous enough to feel an urge to pull her hair.

"Want to? There's nothing I rather want!" He kissed her thoroughly when someone coughed discreetly.

"Am I coming inconveniently?" Harry smirked from the doorframe. He had seen his two best friends snog enough times to not be embarrassed any longer.

"Yes," Ron told him before returning to his fiancée.

"Okay, just come to the dinner at the Burrow at Wednesday or Molly will have my head!" Hermione just waved impatiently with her hand behind her back. Harry retreated in defeat sniggering as he went. Those two were like teenagers.

A/N2: I think I'll write a companion piece to this from Draco and Ginny's POV. Anyway, please review!


	3. Special Society

Broom(b)ride

By

Sannikex

Special Society

A/N: Another vignette! If you want to read another part of this story, check out Rainbow (H/L). If you have any suggestion about the storyboard in that or this one just tell. Since I don't actually have anything planned you just have to leave it in a review. Now enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything belonging to the Potterverse.

Hermione didn't like to be nervous. Not at all. She had always made sure that she had read in a subject well enough to not be nervous. But she hadn't found any book that told how to tell your to-be-family-in-law that you were pregnant. Not that there was any hostility between her and Ron's family. No, they were tied really close because of the war; this was just an uneasy situation.

"Hermione, love, are you coming? Mum will kill us if we are not there on time to eat her _ham_ or what it was, she's been nagging about it since last time we had dinner," Ron called from downstairs. She smiled and checked her appearance one last time before exiting the room. Her fiancée held up her cloak for her, assisting her to put it on.

"Ready to go?" He said and nuzzled at her neck.

"Ron!" He chuckled at her surprised tone before drawing his wand. She followed suit and mere seconds later they stood on the front step of the Burrow. Hermione took a deep breath and from habit she looked up where Ron's window was.

"No need," he said and even if she couldn't see his face she heard that he was smiling.

"I know but it's a habit." She smiled back and squared her shoulders. What could happen, really?

"Why are you nervous?" Of course he could sense it and he could guess what had brought it too. Hermione felt that everything that didn't stand in books was unstable ground. Anything you couldn't know before it happened and prepare for was dangerous. And, he thought, facing his mother with unexpected news could be dangerous.

"Well, it's just that I have not ever done this before..." He laughed and took her hand. "Everyone is going to be delighted, Hermione!" He tugged at her hand; "C'mon I'll protect you from the big bad Weasley clan!" She had to laugh at him.

"It is big, but bad? Ha, Ronald Weasley I wasn't sorted into Gryffindor for nothing! Are you coming?" He loved that twinkle in her eyes; he loved to know that he had lightened the sparkles.

"Always by your side, Granger!" Laughing, the young couple stepped inside.

The warmth washed over them like a wave. It was always comfortably warm inside the Burrow. Hermione had always fancied the thought that it was the warmth of love and not the effect of warming spells. She thought that even if it had been freeze degrees inside it would feel warm because the _atmosphere_ was warm. A rather soppy thought coming from the practical Hermione Granger.

Molly Weasley came hurrying towards them, the ever-present apron tied around her middle.

"Come in, come in! Everyone's here, they're in the living room, Ronald Weasley what is that!" Molly said in one breath eyeing Ron's sweater. The hem had broken. "Lovely jumper, Hermione, darling, just the right colour for your eyes. Now let me take your cloaks, here..." She was referring to the cinnamon brown cashmere turtleneck Hermione was wearing.

Ron and Hermione were shooed into the living room where they were greeted warmly.

The whole Weasley clan with families were there. Bill and his wife Fleur were occupying the couch keeping an eye at their oldest son, Leo who was happily playing chase with his cousins. Charlie and his fiancée Joanie were playing with Draco and Ginny's David. The handsome couple themselves were standing by the window, Draco holding their daughter Juliet who was shyly watching the other children. Fred and Katie's three kids had engaged them all in a wild chase. George and Angelina's twins had joined together with Percy and Pansy's daughter.

The moment they stepped in they were attacked by a stampede of nieces and nephews shouting, "Uncle Ron! Aunt Hermione!"

Ginny calmly sorted the heap up and sent the children away as her husband snickered. Ron sent him a dark look.

"What is it, Uncle Ron?" The former Slytherin said innocently and Ron was about to answer when a tiny voice said, "Can we play Quidditch after dinner, Uncle Draco? Please Uncle Draco?" Draco scowled at Ron who now was the one sniggering.

"Sure, Leo," the blonde said and the little boy jumped with glee.

Before Draco and Ron could start bickering Molly called that dinner was served. Arthur came through the door just as everyone rose to get dinner. His, now _very_ large, family greeted him and everyone threaded into the tiny dining room that somehow always managed to fit everyone.

Hermione found herself becoming more and more nervous the longer the night went. When the ham was served she felt Ron's warm hand on her knee and smiled gratefully. She nodded lightly and Ron was about to call for attention when the dinner was interrupted by a knock on the door. A moment later Harry, his girlfriend Luna Lovegood and their three year old daughter Lily came into the room.

"Sorry we're late. We had a situation at work." Harry worked as an Auror but not for the ministry but for a smaller agency situated in Wales. His girlfriend, the former Ravenclaw Luna Lovegood was a children's books author and worked in the cottage where she and Harry lived together with their daughter.

After some scuffling the couple was safely tucked in between Ron and Angelina, Harry with Lily on his lap as she refused to get down.

She was a very serious and quiet child and she was the first child Hermione had ever taken to her heart. Of course she loved all her nieces and nephews but Lily would always hold a special place. With her timid nature she became a bit overshadowed by the bustling Weasley children but she didn't seem to mind and she mostly played by herself then she could suddenly stop and climb up to sit on someone's lap. It had dumbfounded Hermione the first time the little girl had situated herself comfortably with her, leaning her blonde head on her godmother's shoulder.

Oh, how I love that girl! Hermione thought and smiled at her goddaughter and got a shy smile in return.

Harry who noticed Hermione smiling grinned back and caressed Lily's blonde hair. She imagined her friend's thoughts was running along the same lines and felt how her heart constricted. She wanted Ron to look at their child with the same endless love in his eyes as Harry got when he looked or thought about his daughter.

She turned towards him with a warm smile and he returned it, easily sending as much love with his eyes as she. This time she encouraged him and squeezed his hand beneath the table.

"Everybody!" Slowly the chatter died and Ron continued. "Hermione and I are now joining the 'we are stabled and settled down club' as we await a new Weasley in September!" Loud cheers erupted and Hermione could hear Fred's (or George's) voice over all, shouting,

"About time!"

"So are we," Luna didn't speak loud but everyone seemed to hear her anyway and quieted down. "Not a Weasley, but a Lovegood-Potter." The sound level rose again and all- around back clapping and hugging continued.

After dinner Hermione found herself sitting by the kitchen table drinking tea with Ginny and Luna. As usual it was messy but clean in the Burrow kitchen.

"We're like a secret society! All expecting at the same time!" Ginny said happily, her brown eyes shining. Hermione swallowed nervously. Spilling the news had made it all more real and it reminded her that she had to buy books…Ginny was awaiting her third and Luna her second while it was Hermione's first.

"You look a bit stressed, Hermione. Is something wrong?" Luna asked, her ever observant eyes worried. You thought that she was up the space, and she was, but somehow she noticed a lot more than most.

"Yeah, well, I was thinking. I mean, Ginny this is your third child and your second, Luna but it's my first. I'm just nervous…"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Hermione we're so clumsy! Going on about how it is and you haven't…You always seem to know what you're doing so I never reflected over that it's you first time!" Ginny exclaimed in her outgoing way.

"Of course you're nervous, I was too!" She nodded over the rim of her cup, "What about you Luna?" The blonde did something very uncharacteristically and giggled.

"Well, Harry was most nervous of us too. He was afraid to touch me, said he thought he would break anything." Hermione put down her cup.

"So you mean you didn't, er…touch? At all?" She asked and blushed promptly. Luna shook her head making her long earrings in the shape of quills dangle, smiling secretly.

"I managed to convince him." Ginny snorted violently with laughter at Hermione's appalled look. The bushy-haired witch could be so prudish.

"I just got an idea. An excellent on too, mind you, since it comes from me. Every week we'll see each other over lunch and discuss whatever on our minds. You'll bring what you feel like. It's hopeless anyway to try to feed a pregnant woman with anything else than what she feels like. We do it in turn. We can start at the manor and then at Luna's and then yours and Ron's place. No husbands, boyfriends or fiancées allowed."

"That is actually an excellent idea." Luna said and Ginny mock bowed.

"I'll be there." Hermione said. Maybe it would help the nervousness to speak with experienced women. Younger, but more experienced in the subject.

"Great! Now, Luna, I want to hear. What did you long for with Lily?"

"Salty liquorice. It's Swedish sweets and since Harry didn't want me to apparate he had to go there all the time." Luna smiled as Ginny and Hermione laughed heartily at the thought of Harry apparating back and forth to Sweden. "So, what about you, Ginny?" Luna asked curiously.

"Well, with David it was pickled cucumber. With Juliet I was driving Draco mad with my cravings for raisins ice cream. It's only Fortescue's that have it. Draco actually suggested we'd make Mr. Fortescue Juliet's godfather since Draco had to wake the poor man up at least twice a week and buy litres of ice cream. Now we have our own key." Hermione stared disbelievingly at her friend as Luna sniggered.

"Raisins ice cream?"

"Yep, mine and Juliet's favourite. David and Draco love mint."

"Oh…" Being pregnant sure gave a whole new aspect of your friends. She had never known that Ginny loved raisins ice cream.

"Ginny," the women looked up and saw Draco with a sleepy David on his hip. "We have to leave but we got to catch Juliet before she falls asleep still running."  
"Sure, Draco." She rose swiftly and just beside her husband in the doorway she stopped, "And, darling, I would love some ice cream." Then she walked out.

"Sweet Merlin! Again!" Not two seconds after he had walked out with a nod the two remaining women burst out laughing hysterically.

A/N2: So? What did you think? Any suggestions? Do review!


	4. A Piece of Advise

Broom(b)ride

By

Sannikex

Chapter Four

A Piece of Advise

A/N: Another piece of this very angst-less story. This part is for Irishladybugz7 who suggested the asvising part. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything owned by someone else.

Ron took a deep breath of the cold evening air and closed the door to the bustling kitchen. He needed a break from all the congratulations and good advises. The door opened and Harry stepped out with two butterbeers. He handed Ron one and leaned against the wall.

"So…are you feeling ready for the job, daddy?" He knew that the question was serious though the light tone.

"I don't know…I'm happy of course, can't help but smile all the time but it's…so…huge…"

Harry nodded and leaned his elbows on the rail while looking out over the garden. Three gnomes were fighting over some leftovers the children had put out for them and somewhere a dog barked.

"How… I mean when you…" Harry took a swig of his beer before answering,

"When Luna told me that we were going to have a baby I was on the verge to pack my bags and run. I loved her endlessly but the aspect of being a father scared me from my senses. I remember the first time she mentioned children, it was the first time we were to Beddgelert and saw the house and we stood in the orchard and suddenly she says that she wanted our children to grow up there. All I felt was fear. She understood, of course, Luna always does and that, if something, made me realize that I would never forgive myself if I left. What kind of father would I be then? I kept being scared the whole time, couldn't believe that I would soon be a father, someone would be totally dependant on me...With reservation for sounding cliché, the first time I held Lily I knew that if someone crooked a hair on her head I would kill that person with no regret. Then I felt more fear, fear that something would happen to her if I didn't watch over her...And it never stops, I'm still just as scared now as then that one day something will happen to her just as I am afraid that something will happen to Luna. I have no idea what I would do to myself if I lost them."

"You won't" Ron clapped him on the shoulder. He was glad that Harry had shared so much of his feelings, he usually bottled everything up. Or, used to, Luna always managed to get him to talk.

"Congratulations by the way, mate"

"Congratulations to you too. Second, eh? At twenty-four...Not bad"

"Well, Malfoy's twenty-four too and he and Ginny are having their third."

"Don't remind me", Ron moaned and Harry laughed.

She stood beside Arthur and watched as the promised Quidditch game took place. Almost everyone was playing but their respective men had stopped the three expecting women. Ginny and Luna sat closer to the game and chatted and kept an eye on their children who were playing. Lily and Juliet who were to young for own brooms sat in front of their fathers, securely locked with spells between their guarding arms. The sight touched her

Hermione had found herself standing beside the Weasley patriarch. Mrs. Weasley was in the kitchen doing the dishes with Fleur who to everyone's surprise had offered to help.

They stood with their necks craned and Mr. Weasley hummed cheerily. All his sons were up there; even Percy after Pansy had made him. They were a really weird match, no one could have guessed. Ginny who had the closest contact with Pansy through her husband (who couldn't stand her but had to since they were after all from the same house in a family where everyone were Gryffindors or Ravenclaws) had told her that Pansy had gotten a job at the Ministry after they had confiscated the Parkinson estate and money, as Percy Weasley's secretairy and had almost driven him mad with using her time to 'put him down a few steps' as she put it, instead of working. Then somehow they had ended up on Percy's desk and from there it had rolled on. And she had managed to tone Percy down a bit, which the whole family thanked her for. And Draco and Ginny, could it become weirder than that, she asked herself. And still, they seemed so perfectly happy. Of course Ginny could consider herself lucky, Malfoy never missed a beat in his gallantry, he still courted her after almost eight years and you had to admit that he looked good. She loved Ron endlessly but you couldn't help sighing over Draco Malfoy. Dashingly handsome and romantic, and thoughtful towards his wife. Looking at them made you believe in love that lasted a lifetime. And maybe, she thought and looked up at Ron who just caught the quaffle with a grin, she would find it too.

"Mr. Weasley, how do you get a relationship to last?" Arthur turned his eyes to her looking very troubled.

"Is there…Are there any problems between you and Ron?"

"Oh no! No, I just meant…" She blushed promptly but continued, "How do you get it to last for a long time? The attraction, I mean?"

Arthur looked uneasy but seemed determined to answer correctly.

"Well, it takes a lot of patience and you have to realize that your partner change and grow and so do you. You have to work for it, everyday. You never get out of the danger zone. Molly and I still work to stay together even if we happen to be lucky enough to never have any serious difficulties." Hermione nodded and thought about how she had changed. She wasn't the same little girl who had fallen for her tall and gangly friend so long ago. He wasn't the tall and gangly boy any longer but she had come to love the man he had become. "I believe that you and Ron have good chances at making it. After all he's been in love with you since he was eleven if he didn't realize it. He came home for the summer full of, 'Hermione said', 'Hermione would know', 'Hermione told me'. I knew from the beginning that someone who could make my son listen like that must be special. And so you were." Hermione blushed and Arthur smiled. "I know Ron and I don't say that living with him is going to be easy but I do know that no one is better fit for it than you, Hermione."

"Thank you Mr. Weasley" He just nodded and strode inside.

"Don't you think that the winners deserve a kiss?" Malfoy leaned on his broom with a smug smirk and Ginny rose, a bit more heavily than usually and he was about to help her when she sent him a glare so he kept holding onto his broom.

"Of course I do, it's not every day you beat the great Harry Potter!" He looked a bit sour before he remembered that he had nothing to fear from his wife's childhood crush. So he grinned, Hermione still hadn't gotten used to it, and Ginny tiptoed to reach him. She pulled at his collar and obediently he bent down. She didn't stare, of course not, but it looked like he was properly rewarded.

"Don't you think that the losers deserve a kiss?" Harry stood in front of his girlfriend, grinning. Losing didn't affect him, he'd had Lily on his broom and hadn't dared to do anything drastical even if he had seen the snitch some moments before Malfoy. Luna rose gracefully and kissed his cheek before turning around start walking up to the house.

"Hey!"

Hermione saw her smile before Harry spun her around and covered it with his mouth. Now everyone seemed to be lip locked around her except for the children, they were making faces and pulling at their parents' clothes, urging them to not be so embarrassing. But where was her man?

"Ron went to get something to drink." Bill said from behind her.

"Oh, I'll go and help him then…"

"I think I will too…" They smirked at each other as they stood in the middle of all snogging couples.

He was slightly annoyed that Malfoy's team had won. What annoyed him greatly was that Harry hadn't been fazed. He got on far too good with the pointy-faced prig. He opened the back door and stepped into the kitchen just as he heard the front door close. His mother stood by the stove. When he entered she turned.

"Oh, Ronald"

He stiffened; she only called him Ronald when she was upset with him.

"My baby...Going to be a dad!" He groaned inwardly, they had been through this three times since he and Hermione had announced that they were going to have a baby.

"Yes, mum."

"It feels like yesterday you were crawling around here in nappies with the twins tormenting you. You used to..."

"Mum, I promised to bring out some drinks", he could hear himself how pained his voice sounded.

"Of course", she sniffed. She started to hand him bottles of Lizard's Lemonade with her eyes filled with tears.

"Mum don't cry, you've gotten loads of grandchildren already..."

"Yes, I know, it's silly but I can't help it..." Desperatly he wondered if she was going to act like this until the baby was born. "Off you go, I need to cry a bit..." He hurried out before she'd change her mind. He almost ran into Hermione and Bill on their way to the house.

"Don't go in, mum's mental." They stopped. "I think Fleur went out." Bill nodded and left them.

"Ron, if she didn't go mental raising you lot nothing's going to make her go around the bend."

"That's true. Is our child going to make you go around the bend?" Hermione looked up and smiled.

"I don't expect otherwise, it's a Weasley."

A/N2: So what did you think, tell me!


	5. Surprises

Broom(b)ride

By

Sannikex

Chapter Five

Surprises

A/N: Hello! I'm back in business since I have holidays for a week. I'll see what I can do for all my dear little stories but this one is updated now (and it's just Monday!!). A new part in this series has been added, "Bravery is in the Eye of the Beholder" is the newest addition to the family containing this story, "Rainbow" and "Toujours". If you have an idea, why don't you tell me, this story has no plotline so I am very flexible. I just won't break the ships, they're set in stone :D

Now, on suggestion of Shaggy37!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything owned by others.

"Ron, it's just a control, I'm not in labor or anything! Stop pacing and sit down." However cute his nervousness was it was starting to get really annoying. He pushed a hand through his bright red hair.

"I know, I know! I just can't seem to stop thinking...What if something goes wrong...What if I do something wrong?" Hermione's eyes softened and she patted the chair next to her. They were in the waiting room of Frank Yorsch Center of Maternity Welfare, a white painted hallway with meek and lame paintings and old magazines.

With a sigh he sat down and leaned his elbows on his knees.

"Don't worry, Ron. All your brothers except Charlie have been through this and managed, why wouldn't you?" Ron smiled.

"Well, they were pretty close sometimes. I recall Percy having a nervous breakdown before Hazel and Bill got a blue eye when he tried to lock Fleur up so she wouldn't go out and strain herself. And Fred, he was ridiculous, he showed pictures of the baby _inside_ Angelina to the customers in the shop. It feels like I'm just waiting for something to go wrong. Nothing can be this perfect!"

"Oh, Ron, of course it can! You know just as well as I do that nothing is wrong with the baby and that we're not going to do something wrong. People have had children for millions and millions of years, why are we going to fail. Have some faith, Weasley." He grinned at her and raised an eyebrow.

"And just where, Ms. Granger, did you read that pep-talk?" She blushed, how could he know her so well? "It's because you get a special tone of voice when you recite." Amazing.

"Ms. Granger!" A nurse called from a door further down the hall. Hermione rose and Ron sprang up from his.

"I'll be right back and we'll hear the results together." He nodded and gave her a peck before sitting down. Hermione didn't doubt that he would bite his nails and damn it if she didn't feel like doing that herself. The nurse smiled and let her pass into the room.

They sat down in front of the doctor's desk with joined hands. The doctor who had rectangular glasses and a graying beard looked up from his papers and smiled kindly. Hermione appreciated the reassuring smile and was glad she had followed Molly's advice and gone to the Frank Yorsch clinic.

"Well, Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley we've got some news for you." Hermione felt Ron's hand tense and she put a hand to her still flat stomach. "It seems like you are not expecting a baby, you're expecting two." Hermione who had felt a chill creep down her spine and her stomach sink like she'd been in a falling elevator felt the elevator come to a sudden stop and make her tummy come up somewhere near her ears. She heard like from afar Ron's voice.

"Pardon?"

"Twins, Mr. Weasley, you're expecting twins. Very healthy as it seems but we'd like you to come in a bit more often so we can check everything. It should be alright, after all twins are common in your family, Mr. Weasley." Twins? Not one baby but two? At the same time? Ron was _never_ going to stop fussing now!

"Do you want to know the sex of the children?" Hermione felt like she was dreaming, she had that observatory feeling like she was floating above and looking down at herself.

"Well, we didn't want to know...but we thought it was just one...Now..." Ron looked lost and Hermione understood his thoughts. Two babies changed the whole perspective.

"We'd like to know, I think..." said Hermione weakly and Ron nodded in affirmation.

"Very well, it's twin boys and they should come along in late September."

New male Weasley twins?

"Are they going to be...alike?" Ron asked beside her.

"Yes, Mr. Weasley."

"Oh, my God."

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When Harry had stopped laughing he bought Ron a drink and clapped him on the back.

"Not bad for being the first time." It took Ron half his beer before he could see the amusing in the situation.

"Maybe we should name them Gred and Forge."

"What a great idea. I'm sure Hermione will love it."

"Sure she will."

---------

At Malfoy Manor it was girls only as they had many important matters to discuss. The two invited women and the mistress of the manor were in What Ginny called the Red Parlor. It was richly decorated with dark wood pieces and red fabrics in a luxury yet cozy way.

Ginny laughed so hard that tears streamed down her face when Hermione told her and Luna about the control.

"I'm sure Ron's delighted. Twins. Male. Weasleys. Merlin!"

"How do you feel about it, Hermione?" Luna asked and Ginny sobered immediately.

"I...I don't know, really. It was huge enough to imagine having one child and now it's two...I guess it's just surreal still. I'm just worried that I won't make it. I mean I've never been good with children and now...I bet I'll just be the worst mother ever!" To her horror Hermione felt the tears rising in her eyes.

"Of course you won't. Lily loves her Aunt Hermione and she wants to go and visit you so often. Harry has to tell her you're busy and you know how he dislikes telling Lily 'no' about anything at all." Ginny nodded and bent over the corner of the table and put a hand on Hermione's knee.

"David loves when you draw with him. He loves your dragon sketches so much he made Draco put them up in his room. Juliet loves when you read to her. Both Draco and I have been degraded since we don't do the voices right in books. Only Aunt Hermione can read her fairy-tales right. They both love that you listen to them, always."

"Oh, stop, you're only making me cry harder. I mean, all the practical stuff...I'll probably forget who is who of my twins and forget one at the library or...or I'll drop them? What if I do? They could die!" Ginny and Luna exchanged knowing smiles over Hermione's head and handed her a box of handkerchiefs.

"You'll see, Hermione, it's going to work out fine. The first time you see your child..ren your whole perspective will change." Ginny smiled warmly.

"But I'm not like you, Ginny. You had David when you were nineteen and you didn't do anything wrong, you're the perfect mother. Your children adore you. And Luna, you always seem to know everything about people's feelings; you make Lily's life a fairy-tale with magic beasts and happily ever after stories. And I, what can I do? Recite my Potions book from my fifth year?" Discretely Luna nudged the box of chocolates closer to Hermione.

"Well, that'd undoubtedly put them to sleep. Better than lullabies." Ginny said and Hermione giggled through her sobs.

Twenty minutes later Hermione had calmed down.

"I just keep doing this. I know it's hormones but it's so annoying. I gave Ron the scare of his life this morning when I started crying because my toast burned. I don't think he's ever been so quick to leave for work as then, after he'd comforted me and made me ten perfectly roasted toasts. It makes me feel so silly."

"It's the same for all of us. Imagine Harry's distress, there's nothing he hates as seeing someone unhappy, when I had almost daily breakdowns. Poor him, he thought it was his fault. He even asked me if I regretted anything." Hermione couldn't help but laugh. Harry was so sweet towards Luna and she knew that he loved her to pieces. It took someone extraordinary to help Harry with his not very simple emotional life. And he had found someone too. They were just too cute. Feeling better knowing that they were all in the same boat Hermione turned to Ginny.

"Did you cry all the time, Ginny?" She saw her friend's eyes darken and almost smacked herself. Ginny had been alone when she expected David. Draco had been in hiding so she hadn't been able to contact him. She hadn't known if he was dead or alive and he didn't know how she was, just that she was pregnant with his child.

"I did cry a lot. But it was mostly because I worried about Draco. And because of gratitude. If he would..." She swallowed, "die, then I would still have a part of him." She shrugged as if to shake off the dark memories and smiled, "But he came back to me and nothing can take him away from me again. I don't think I'd be able to survive."

---------

When Hermione came home she found her fiancée sitting on the couch, staring into the flames of a merrily cracking fire. When she entered he sprang up.

"You didn't Apparate, did you?" It was dangerous to Apparate for pregnant women; it was easier to get splinched if you forgot that you had to do Sidealong Apparition to get the child with too.

"No, I didn't. Ginny had a Portkey." She leaned into his open arms and breathed in the smell of him. Like warm apples and sweet memories. With a fond smile she remembered her 6th year when she'd almost said aloud in front of the class that what attracted her most was the smell of parchment, freshly mown grass and Ronald Weasley.

"Ron?"

"Mhm?"

"Ron, do you really want twins?" He caught the seriousness in her voice and stepped back so he could look her in the eyes. He wrinkled his brow as if he couldn't find the words.

"I was expecting just one and it was so amazing in itself that you and I were going to have a baby that I never went further, like having more children. Then when the shock had worn off after getting to know it was twins I started to think. Fred and George may be right pains in the ass but I love them and they are among the happiest and harmonical people I know. They always have each other. They'd trust the other with their lives and never let the other down. I think it's good for a child to have that unconditional love in a person of the same age. Our children will never have to feel lonely, Hermione and that makes me happy there's two of them. Do you want twins?"

"Until today I wasn't sure. But now I know that it doesn't matter how many of them there are, I'll love them just the same. They'll give me a hard time, they're Weasleys after all, but I have lots of people to help me and I think I already love the little lives."

"Settled then", Ron smiled that warm smile only he could, the one that made his eyes glitter and Hermione's heart tingle.

The young couple on the couch slept peacefully as the warm light of the cheery fire played over their faces and in the golden rings on their entwined hands resting on the woman's belly.

A/N2: So how was it? Author is thirsty for reviews!


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